Albert II of Germany
| Albert II | |
|---|---|
Portrait in Klosterneuburg Abbey, c. 1438
| |
| Duke of Austria | |
| Reign | 14 September 1404 – 27 October 1439 |
| Predecessor | Albert IV |
| Successor | Ladislaus the Posthumous |
| King of Hungary and Croatia | |
| Reign | 18 December 1437 – 27 October 1439 |
| Coronation | 1 January 1438, Székesfehérvár |
| Predecessor | Sigismund |
| Successor | Vladislaus I |
| King of the Romans | |
| Reign | 17 March 1438 – 27 October 1439 |
| Predecessor | Sigismund |
| Successor | Frederick III |
| King of Bohemia | |
| Reign | 6 May 1438 – 27 October 1439 |
| Coronation | 29 June 1438, Prague |
| Predecessor | Sigismund |
| Successor | Ladislaus the Posthumous |
| Born | 10 August 1397 Vienna, Duchy of Austria |
| Died | 27 October 1439 (aged 42) Neszmély, Kingdom of Hungary |
| Burial | Székesfehérvár |
| Spouse | Elizabeth of Luxembourg (m. 1422) |
| Issue | Anne, Duchess of Luxembourg Elisabeth, Queen of Poland Ladislaus the Posthumous |
| House | Habsburg |
| Father | Albert IV, Duke of Austria |
| Mother | Joanna Sophia of Bavaria |
Albert II (German: Albrecht II., 10 August 1397 – 27 October 1439) was King of the Romans and a member of the House of Habsburg. By inheritance he became Albert V, Duke of Austria. Through his wife Elizabeth of Luxembourg (jure uxoris), he also became King of Hungary, King of Croatia, King of Bohemia, and inherited a claim to the Duchy of Luxembourg.
He played a significant role in the Hussite Wars, assisting his father-in-law Sigismund and suffering defeats like the Battle of Domažlice in 1431. Crowned King of Hungary in 1438, he struggled to control Bohemia and fought against Polish-Bohemian forces. He later became King of the Romans but died in 1439 while defending Hungary from the Ottomans. His reign saw anti-Hussite and anti-Jewish persecutions, continuing medieval crusades against perceived heretics. Austrian Jews faced increased taxation and expulsions, culminating in the 1420 Vienna pogrom, partly driven by accusations of aiding the Hussites.
Biography
Albert was born in Vienna as the son of Albert IV, Duke of Austria, and Joanna Sophia of Bavaria.[1]
He succeeded to the Duchy of Austria at the age of seven on his father's death in 1404. His uncle Duke William of Inner Austria, then head of the rivaling Leopoldinian line, served as regent for his nephew, followed by his brothers Leopold IV and Ernest the Iron in 1406. The quarrels between the brothers and their continued attempts to gain control over the Albertinian territories led to civil war-like conditions. Nevertheless, Albert, having received a good education, undertook the government of Austria proper on the occasion of Leopold's death in 1411 and succeeded, with the aid of his advisers, in ridding the duchy of the evils which had arisen during his minority.
In 1422 Albert married Elisabeth of Luxemburg, the daughter and heiress of the King Sigismund of Hungary (later also Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia), and his second wife, the Slovenian noblewoman Barbara of Celje.[2] Besides Hungary, Albert's marriage brought him claims to numerous Slavic kingdoms and principalities and other realms of Central and Eastern Europe as well.
Albert assisted his father-in-law Sigismund in his campaigns against the Hussites, involving the Austrian duchy in the Hussite Wars. In return Sigismund designated him as his successor and granted him the title of Margrave of Moravia in 1423. The Austrian lands were devastated several times and Albert also participated in the 1431 Battle of Domažlice where the Imperial troops suffered an embarrassing defeat. While his lands were harmed it was a show of loyalty to the church as the church was trying to consolidate its influence and power.[3]
When Sigismund died in 1437, Albert was crowned king of Hungary on 1 January 1438, and just as his predecessor did, he moved his court to the Hungarian Kingdom from where he later oversaw his other domains. Although crowned king of Bohemia six months after ascending to the Hungarian throne, he was unable to obtain possession of the country. He was engaged in warfare with the Bohemians and their Polish allies, when on 17 March 1438, he was elected as "King of the Romans" at Frankfurt.[4] Albert was never crowned as Holy Roman Emperor.
Afterwards engaged in defending Hungary against the attacks of the Turks, he died on 27 October 1439 at Neszmély and was buried at Székesfehérvár. Albert was an energetic and warlike prince, whose short reign as a triple king gave great promise of usefulness for the Holy Roman Empire.
Hussite Wars and persecution
Beginning with the First Crusade in the year 1095, those who were not adherents to the Catholic faith were deemed by the religious authorities to be heretics, and were to be persecuted, destroyed or converted.[5] While the papal call for violence against non-Christians applied to Muslims originally, it was applied against other religious and social groups.[6] Jews and lepers were the main targets along with Muslims in the crusade to destroy "devilry."[7][8] The persecution of Jews came as no surprise in connection with the Hussite Wars. The call to arms against heretics meant the call to arms against all who are not Christian, with the hopes of their destruction or conversion.[7][8] If the heretics did not convert to Christianity they were massacred, usually burned.
Jewish persecution
Beginning in the 11th century, Jews began to migrate from rural areas to the cities of Western Europe, where they came to assume an important economic role in commercial activity and especially as moneylenders.[3] This economic transformation was accompanied by a deterioration of relations between Jewish and Christian populations, with an increase of violent persecutions (Pogrom) by the latter towards the former.[3] The first major instance of Jewish persecution coincided with the call of the First Crusade in the fall of 1095.[5] Summoned by Pope Urban II with the aim of conquering the Holy Land, crusaders interpreted the papal call to use violence against non Christians as a command to attack and destroy Jewish communities in France[3] and the Rhineland.[6] These German-Austrian massacres were arguably a great influence on Albert V and his Jewish persecutions and expulsions.
Though the Jews in the Austrian duchy had been subject to local persecutions during the 13th and 14th century, their position remained relatively safe. Jewish communities prospered in several towns like Krems or the area around the Judenplatz at Vienna. During the confusion after the death of Duke Albert IV in 1404 their situation worsened sharply, culminating in the blaze of the Vienna synagogue on 5 November 1406, followed by riots and lootings.
With the ordering of campaign preparations against the Hussites by King Sigismund in the beginning of the 15th century, taxes were used to fund a crusade army.[8] Albert V of Austria followed suit, keeping his good standing with the Catholic Church while he was in power.[9] When Albert V came of age in 1411 and interfered in the Hussite Wars, he repeatedly established new taxes on the Jewish community to finance his campaigns, to destroy "devilry" and "imprudence".[8] Like the Hussites, Jews were seen as an enemy to Christendom.[3] After the Hussites had devastated the duchy, the Austrian Jews were accused of collaboration and arms trade in favor of the enemies. The accusations of a host desecration at Enns in 1420 gave Albert pretext for the destruction of the Jewish community.
According to the 1463 Chronica Austriae by chronicler Thomas Ebendorfer, the duke on 23 May 1420, at the behest of the Church, ordered the imprisonment and forcible conversion of the Jews. Those that had not converted or escaped were sent off in boats down the Danube, while wealthy Jews remained under arrest, several of them tortured and stripped of their property. The forced baptism of Jewish children was stopped on intervention by Pope Martin V. On 12 March 1421 Albert sentenced the remaining Jews to death. Ninety-two men and 120 women were burned at the stake south of the Vienna city walls on 12 March 1421. The Jews were placed under an "eternal ban" and their synagogue was demolished. The persecutions in several Austrian towns are explicitly described in a 16th-century script called Vienna Gesera.
Title and names
In Early New High German his titles are Albrecht von Gots Gnaden Römischer Kunig zu allen Zeiten Merer des Reichs, und zu Hungern, Dalmacien, Croacien ic. Kunig, Erwelter Kunig zu Behem, Herzog zu Oesterreich u. Marggraf zu Mern (Albert, by the Grace of God, King of the Romans, ever-increaser [August] of the Reich, of Germany, of Hungary, Dalmatia, Croatia, etc. etc., King; Elected King of Bohemia, Duke of Austria and Margrave of Moravia, etc. etc.).[10]
In English he is sometimes known as Albert the Grave or Albert the Magnanimous; this is possibly due to a confusion with the 16th-century ruler Albert V, Duke of Bavaria, who is called the Magnanimous (der Großmütige) in German.[11][12]
Family
His children with Elizabeth of Luxembourg were:
- Anne of Austria (1432–1462), who married William III, Duke of Saxony.[1] William became (1457–69) Duke of Luxembourg, in right of his wife
- Elisabeth (c. 1436–1439 to 1505), who married Casimir IV of Poland,[1] and whose son Vladislaus II of Bohemia later became king of Bohemia and Hungary
- George (born and died at Vienna on 16 February 1435)
- Ladislas V Posthumus of Bohemia, King of Hungary and Bohemia[2]
Male-line family tree
- v
t
e
House of Habsburg[13] - Original line
- Albert
Count of Habsburg
c. 1188–1239 - Rudolf I
of Germany
c. 1218–1291 - Albert I
of Germany
1255–1308 — Hartmann
1263–1281 — Rudolf II
Duke of Austria
1270–1290 - Rudolf I
of Bohemia
1281–1307 — Frederick
the Fair
c. 1289–1330 — Leopold I
Duke of Austria
1290–1326 — Albert II
Duke of Austria
1298–1358 — Henry
the Friendly
1299–1327 — Otto
Duke of Austria
1301–1339 — John
Parricida
c. 1290–1312/1313 - Albertinian line — Leopoldian line
- Rudolf IV
Duke of Austria
1339–1365 — Frederick III
1347–1362 — Albert III
Duke of Austria
1349–1395 — Leopold III
Duke of Austria
1351–1386 — Frederick II
Duke of Austria
1327–1344 — Leopold II
Duke of Austria
1328–1344 - Albert IV
Duke of Austria
1377–1404 — William
Duke of Austria
c. 1370–1406 — Leopold IV
Duke of Austria
1371–1411 — Ernest
Duke of Austria
1377–1424 — Frederick IV
Duke of Austria
1382–1439 - Albert II
of Germany
1397–1439 — Frederick III
HRE
1415–1493 — Albert VI
Archduke of Austria
1418–1463 — Sigismund
Archduke of Austria
1427–1496 - Ladislaus
the Posthumous
1440–1457 — Maximilian I
HRE
1459–1519 - Philip I
of Castile
1478–1506 - Spanish / Iberian line — Austrian / HRE line
- Charles V
HRE
1500–1558 — Ferdinand I
HRE
1503–1564 - Philip II
of Spain
1527–1598 — Maximilian II
HRE
1527–1576 — Ferdinand II
Archduke of Austria
1529–1595 — Charles II
Archduke of Austria
1540–1590 - Carlos
Prince of Asturias
1545–1568 — Philip III
of Spain
1578–1621 — Rudolf II
HRE
1552–1612 — Ernest
of Austria
1553–1595 — Matthias
HRE
1557–1619 — Maximilian III
Archduke of Austria
1558–1618 — Albert VII
Archduke of Austria
1559–1621 — Wenceslaus
Archduke of Austria
1561–1578 — Andrew
Margrave of Burgau
1558–1600 — Charles
Margrave of Burgau
1560–1618 — Ferdinand II
HRE
1578–1637 — Maximilian Ernest
of Austria
1583–1616 — Leopold V
Archduke of Austria
1586–1632 — Charles
of Austria
1590–1624 - Philip IV
of Spain
1605–1665 — Charles
of Austria
1607–1632 — Ferdinand
of Austria
1609–1641 — John-Charles
of Austria
1605–1619 — Ferdinand III
HRE
1608–1657 — Leopold Wilhelm
of Austria
1614–1662 — Ferdinand Charles
Archduke of Austria
1628–1662 — Sigismund Francis
Archduke of Austria
1630–1665 - Balthasar Charles
Prince of Asturias
1629–1646 — Charles II
of Spain
1661–1700 — Ferdinand IV
King of the Romans
1633–1654 — Leopold I
HRE
1640–1705 — Charles Joseph
of Austria
1649–1664 - Joseph I
HRE
1678–1711 — Charles VI
HRE
1685–1740 - Lorraine
- Maria Theresa
HRE
1740–1780 — Francis I
HRE
1745–1765 - Habsburg-Lorraine
- Joseph II
HRE
1765–1790 — Leopold II
HRE
1790–1792 - Francis II
HRE
1792–1806 - Notes:
Ancestry
- Ancestors of Albert II of Germany
- 8. Albert II, Duke of Austria
- 4. Albert III, Duke of Austria
- 9. Joanna of Pfirt
- 2. Albert IV, Duke of Austria
- 10. Frederick V, Burgrave of Nuremberg
- 5. Beatrice of Nuremberg
- 11. Elisabeth of Meissen
- 1. Albert II, King of Germany
- 12. Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor
- 6. Albert I, Duke of Lower Bavaria
- 13. Margaret II, Countess of Holland
- 3. Joanna Sophia of Bavaria
- 14. Louis I, Duke of Brzeg
- 7. Margaret of Brieg
- 15. Agnes of Głogów
See also
- Kings of Germany family tree. He was related to every other German king.
References
- Back to citation occurrence 1.0 Back to citation occurrence 1.1 Back to citation occurrence 1.2 Previté-Orton 1978, p. 792.
- Back to citation occurrence 2.0 Back to citation occurrence 2.1 Jackson-Laufer 1999, p. 130.
- Back to citation occurrence 3.0 Back to citation occurrence 3.1 Back to citation occurrence 3.2 Back to citation occurrence 3.3 Back to citation occurrence 3.4 Little, Lester K. (1978). Religious poverty and the profit economy in medieval Europe. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. p. 42-51. ISBN 978-0-8014-1213-4.
- Back to citation Decaluwé, Michiel; Izbicki, Thomas M; Christianson, Gerald, eds. (November 2016). A Companion to the Council of Basel. Brill. p. 28. ISBN 9789004222649. Retrieved 3 February 2025.
- Back to citation occurrence 5.0 Back to citation occurrence 5.1 Riley-Smith, Jonathan (January 1984). "The First Crusade and the Persecution of the Jews". Studies in Church History. 21: 51–72. doi:10.1017/S0424208400007531. ISSN 0424-2084.
- Back to citation occurrence 6.0 Back to citation occurrence 6.1 Smelyansky, Eugene, ed. (2020). The Intolerant Middle Ages: A Reader. Readings in medieval civilizations and cultures. Toronto; Buffalo; London: University of Toronto Press. p. 28. ISBN 978-1-4875-0612-4.
- Back to citation occurrence 7.0 Back to citation occurrence 7.1 Nirenberg, David (1996). Communities of violence: persecution of minorities in the Middle Ages. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-03375-4.
- Back to citation occurrence 8.0 Back to citation occurrence 8.1 Back to citation occurrence 8.2 Back to citation occurrence 8.3 Fudge, Thomas A. (2002). The crusade against heretics in Bohemia, 1418-1437: sources and documents for the Hussite crusades. Crusade texts in translation. Aldershot, Hampshire, England; Burlington, VT, USA: Ashgate. ISBN 978-0-7546-0801-1. OCLC 49640251.
- Back to citation Mark, Joshua J. (17 June 2019). "The Medieval Church". World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
- Back to citation Wölkern, L. C. v. (1738:613). HISTORIA NORIMBERGENSIS DIPLOMATICA oder Zusammentrag der Vornehmsten von den Glorwürdigsten Römischen Kaysern und Königen der Reichs-Freyen Stadt Nürnberg: Allermildest ertheilten Freyheiten Begnadigungen und Concessionen auch anderer zu deren gründlicher Erörterung und mehrerm Verständnus nöthigen glaubwürdigen Urkunden und Zeugnussen mit beygefügten sowohl die alte Reichs- als auch Nürnbergische Geist- und Weltliche Geschichte Geseze und Rechte wie nicht minder die vielfältig wegen der Münzen sich ereignete Veränderungen insonderheit aber die Historiam Medii Aevi und erläuterte Nürnbergische Reformation nech einem vorgesetzten Prodromo oder Einleitung in dreyen unterschiedenen Periodis und Haupt-Theilen noch mehr erklärunden und bewährenden Anmerckungen ('HISTORIA NORIMBERGENSIS DIPLOMATICA or Compilation of the Most Distinguished and Glorious Roman Emperors and Kings of the Imperial Free City of Nuremberg: Most graciously granted liberties, pardons and concessions, as well as other credible documents and testimonies necessary for their thorough discussion and further understanding, with appended both the old imperial and Nuremberg ecclesiastical and secular history, laws and rights, as well as the manifold changes that occurred concerning coinage, in particular the Historiam Medii Aevi and the explained Nuremberg Reformation, after a prefaced prodromo or introduction in three different periods and main parts, with further explanatory and supporting remarks.'). Germany: zu finden bey Johann Andreä Endters seel. Erben.
- Back to citation Universal Historical Dictionary: Or, Explanation of the Names of Persons and Places in the Departments of Biblical, Political, and Ecclesiastical History, Mythology, Heraldry, Biography, Bibliography, Geography, and Numismatics. (1833). United Kingdom: Baldwin and Cradock, and J. Dowding.
- Back to citation Behringer, W. (1997:67). Die Spaten-Brauerei 1397-1997: die Geschichte eines Münchner Unternehmens vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart. Germany: Piper.
- Back to citation "Habsburg family tree". Habsburg family website. 28 October 2023. Retrieved 28 October 2023.
Bibliography
- Hödl, Günther (1978). Albrecht II. Königtum, Reichsregierung und Reichsreform 1438–1439.
- Jackson-Laufer, Guida Myrl (1999). Women Rulers Throughout the Ages: An Illustrated Guide. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781576070918.
- Previté-Orton, C. W., ed. (1978). Cambridge Medieval History, Shorter. Vol. II:The Twelfth Century to the Renaissance. Cambridge University Press.
- Setton, Kenneth M. (1978). The Papacy and the Levant (1204–1571), Volume II: The Fifteenth Century. Vol. 2. Philadelphia: The American Philosophical Society. ISBN 0-87169-127-2.
External links
- Entry about Albert II of Germany in the database Gedächtnis des Landes on the history of the state of Lower Austria (Lower Austria Museum)
- Tripota – Trier portrait database Archived 14 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine
- Illustration by Francesco Terzio from 1569: Albertus II, Imp. (Digitized)
- Literature by and about Albrecht II. in the German National Library catalogue
- Works by and about Albert II of Germany in the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek (German Digital Library)